This is the baby turkey with neck problems. My son did some searching and found that this could be what is called wry neck. I feel so bad for it, it tries so hard but the neck goes back and it ends up on its back. It is eating and drinking some. My husband says we will probably have to put it down.
So innocent, poor thing.
oh the poor baby. Is there some kind of collars or something you could put on it until is fixes itself??
You know I was just thinking of that. We may try something. My son doesn't want to give up on it, but we also don't want it to live a miserable life.
Try Vitamine E with Selenium. You buy it in gel caps...and it has to have Selenium. This is close to a miracle cure for Silkie's with wry neck. Haven't heard of it with turkeys.
You punch a hole in the gel cap and sweeze out the vitamines. Don't worry about the dose, just give it some twice a day
With Silkies they also advise massaging the neck with traction. You rub right behind the head and pull gently forward.
I think you may need to be a little careful with the dose if there is Selenium involved. It can be toxic if overdosed.
Apparently, if the disability is due to vitamin E/Selenium deficiency, you would be hard pressed to get in enough from the vitamin gel over a few days to be toxic.
It worried me a lot at first. I tried to get dosage instructions and they were never available for this use. But in Silkie chicks, where the syndrome is well known, squeezing some of the gel into their food or into their beaks twice a day for about 5 days always resulted in improvement without any sign of overdosing.
I am not sure the etiology is the same in turkey chicks, but I would at least try it.
I have vitamin E in gel caps but not the selenium. I'll have to find some. Do I give it together?
Yes, it is the combination of vitamin E and selenium
If you call around or go to several pharmacies you should find them in the vitamin aisle.
I would try to get it already mixed, since there is some kind of biological synergy between the two and you want them in balance.
I looked on line. It seems that they use it for horses and other animals too...so you also might call feed and pet stores.
Thanks Catscan!
There are other reasons for wry neck in turkeys...I found papers linking it to a mycoplasma infection. And it can be egg transmitted. That would require an antibiotic.
Though I would be surprised if it showed up so soon after hatching if the chick was healthy enough to hatch.
Google "mycoplasma egg turkey".
Right, short-term it would require a massive overdose to be toxic.
Interesting. It hatched fine. Right now it is eating and drinking well and seems to not have the neck flopped back as much anymore. Sometimes I really have to look to tell the difference between it and the other one. We were gone today for 2 hours and I was sure we would come home and find it on its back, but it was upright and looking okay. Every now and then it flops back the head but nowhere near as much as yesterday or even this morning.
ZZ had one that slowly recovered with supportive care for the first few days.
That is exactly what my lil chick was doing when it would take a drink. It did that for a couple of weeks and gradually stopped.. it would flip over at first.. but finally got strong enough to stop falling and eventually completely cleared up with nothing but a watchful eye. :)
I think this is a picture of it..
Good luck!
Yep, looks like our turkey. It was doing really well last evening and then all of a sudden it started flipping its head back, I think it went to get a drink and picked its head up to far, and it couldn't seem to get it straight. I massaged its neck and set it back down and finally it straightened out again.
Catscan I got the E and selenium and we started giving it to it last night.
Well so far this morning it isn't doing very well. It can't seem to keep its head upright and it is constantly flopping back. It did so well yesterday. I tried getting hte E and selenium into it but it isn't easy. When its head flops back it seems to have trouble breathing as well.
I hope it did not accidentally inhale the vitamins. It might also be due to mycoplasma. I would hold off on the vitamins if it seemed to be better before you started them.
update us on the babys condition please
Baby turkey is doing well, still has neck "wobbles" but the flop backwards isn't as bad anymore. It is very active and looks up at us with the most innocent sweet face. Loves to come running when you stick your hand in the box and looks for food in your hands. I'll post a new picture soon.
Way cool...
Here is a new picture of baby turkey.
Here it is with the other turkey and the chicks we put them in with to teach them to eat.
Hint, wry neck turkey has shorter wing feathers than the other turkey which is a little older.
This is the other turkey, my daughter named it Pickles. The wry neck turkey she named Skittles.
another pic of Skittles (wry neck turkey)
This message was edited Jun 25, 2010 6:59 AM
This morning I went to check on them and Skittles tried to fly up to me. They are so spoiled.
It looks like he is definitely on the mend.
Billy Bob is still in Billy's room in a bird cage where he or she can perch on some wood. I moved baby chicks in a tank next to him and he has quieted down,. I think he misses Billy reading a bed time story to him. Pretty soon he will be moved outside, he is one spoiled turkey, wants to be picked up every time you talk to him... Will get pictures later. Billy bob will be living with our new peacock Lat, as soon as Lat is ready to go outside...
Just a note that you may find that the wry neck movement returns from time to time. I have a silkie with recurrent wry neck. She gets it about 1-2 times a year and she walks backwards and bumps into things because her neck goes around and her head faces backwards. I give her selenium plus Vit E capsules about 5-6 per day, and she clears up within about 2 weeks. Then she is fine for months afterwards. It's a strange problem but it's happened at least 5 times now and every time she gets better.
I didn't know turkeys were so adorable as babies.
Thank you all for the pictures and posts. I enjoy them.
I'm so glad it is doing better!!!
They are very interesting. I never knew what a baby turkey was like either, we have never had them before. They have quite a personality. Pickles has really taken to my son. He likes to follow him around outside. They love to be picked up and have their little faces stroked, they close their eyes. (or maybe it's just these two because they are so spoiled, lol).
so how is the baby doing???
Baby turkey is doing well, both have gotten bigger and love to fly out of their pen. We open it every day and let them fly around and then they come back and follow us around.
This is Skittles the one that had wry neck.
This is Pickles by my sons hand ans Skittles walking back into the pen.
that is so cute. I am happy it recovered
